KARACHI: A sessions court on Tuesday ordered a senior police officer to take departmental action against the SHO of the Rizvia police station in a wrongful confinement case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (central) Javed Akhtar Awan asked the SSP concerned to take action against the Rizvia SHO and other policemen for their involvement in illegal detention of seven innocent citizens.

The court also sought a compliance report.

On the directive of the sessions court, a judicial magistrate along with applicant Mohammad Ijaz and his lawyer had raided the Rizvia police station around a week ago for the recovery of Fayyaz. However, the magistrate had also found six more people at the police station who were confined without completing any legal formality.

The police failed to produce any FIR or entry in the daily dairy about their arrest and the magistrate got all the seven detainees released on a personal bond and submitted his report in the sessions court.

A habeas corpus application was filed under Section 491 of the criminal procedure code in the sessions court in which the applicant submitted that the police picked up his brother and kept him in wrongful confinement.

The applicant also stated that the police were demanding a bribe for the release of his brother and asked the court for his recovery.

Indian fishermen remanded

A judicial magistrate sent 25 Indian fishermen to prison for fishing illegally in Pakistani waters.

The Maritime Security Agency had detained the fishermen along with their fishing boats after finding them fishing inside the exclusive economic zone of Pakistan and handed them over to police for legal action.

The police produced the fishermen before Judicial Magistrate (west) Azizullah Khoso, who sent them to jail on 14-day judicial remand. The court asked the investigation officer to file a charge-sheet on the next date.

A case was registered under Sections 3/4 of the Foreigners Act and 3/9 of the Fisheries Act at the Docks police station.

The same court had also sent 29 Indian fishermen to prison in an identical case on Sept 29.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2014